TEHRAN: Iran announced Thursday it has carried out a new space launch, in a move likely to irk Western powers amid tough talks on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal.
“The Simorgh satellite launcher carried three research cargos into space,” defense ministry spokesman Ahmad Hosseini said, quoted by state television.
“The research goals foreseen for this launch have been achieved,” Hosseini added, without elaborating on the nature of the research.
“This was a preliminary launch. We will have operational launches in the near future.”
The television aired footage of a rocket rising from a desert launchpad.
It gave no details of its location although US media reported earlier this month that preparations for a launch were under way at Iran’s space center in Semnan, 300 kilometers east of Tehran.
In February, Iran announced it had launched its most powerful solid fuel rocket to date, the Zoljanah, boasting that it can put a 220-kilogram payload into orbit.
The United States voiced concern about that launch, saying the test could boost Iran’s ballistic missile technology at a time when the two nations are inching back to diplomacy.
Iran successfully put its first military satellite into orbit in April 2020, drawing a sharp rebuke from Washington.
But according to the Pentagon and satellite imagery of the Semnan center, an Iranian satellite launch failed in mid-June. Tehran denied it failed.
Western governments worry that satellite launch systems incorporate technologies interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.
Iran insists its space program is for civilian and defense purposes only, and does not breach the nuclear deal or any other international agreement.
UN Security Council Resolution 2231 of 2015, endorsing the nuclear deal, imposed no blanket ban on Iranian rocket or missile launches.
“Iran is called upon not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology,” the text said.
The 2015 agreement has been hanging by a thread since then president Donald Trump abandoned it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to step up nuclear activities long curtailed by the deal.
A new round of negotiations began in Vienna on Monday in a fresh push to make headway on reviving the deal.
The aim is to bring back Washington and curtail Tehran’s nuclear activities.
Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia are taking part in the negotiations with Iran, while the United States is participating indirectly.
“There may have been some modest progress,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said Tuesday.
Iran announces new space launch amid nuclear talks
https://arab.news/yutrf
Iran announces new space launch amid nuclear talks
- In February, Iran announced it had launched its most powerful solid fuel rocket to date, the Zoljanah
- Iran insists its space program is for civilian and defense purposes only
Erdogan says asked Trump to intervene over shootings at Gaza aid centers
Erdogan said ending the 12-day Iran-Israel war had created a new opportunity to end the fighting in Gaza
ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he asked US President Donald Trump to intervene to stop shootings at Gaza aid centers, which the UN says have killed more than 500 people.
Erdogan said when he met Trump at a NATO summit in late June, he asked him to step in and halt the bloodshed.
“I asked him to intervene in the Gaza process telling him, ‘You are the one who will best manage this process with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’. There are people who are being killed in food queues in particular.
“You need to intervene here so that these people are not killed’,” he said, his remarks reported Saturday by Anadolu state news agency.
Israel blocked supplies going into Gaza in early March, deepening a humanitarian crisis in the war-torn territory, but on May 26, a group called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the US, started delivering supplies.
However its operations have since been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations from its distribution sites in Gaza, where the Israeli military says it is seeking to destroy Hamas militants.
The UN Human Rights Office said Friday more than 500 people had been killed in the vicinity of the GHF sites.
Israel’s army has blamed Hamas for the incidents and this week, GHF’s chairman Johnnie Moore denied any Palestinians have been killed in or near its four distribution sites.
Erdogan said ending the 12-day Iran-Israel war had created a new opportunity to end the fighting in Gaza.
“The ceasefire between Iran and Israel has also opened a door for Gaza. Hamas has repeatedly demonstrated its good will in this regard,” he said just days after his spy chief and foreign minister met separately with senior Hamas officials.
US pressure on Israel would be “decisive” in securing the success of the latest proposal for a 60-day truce in Gaza, he remarked, saying the issue of guarantees was “especially important.”
“In the event of a ceasefire, the international community needs to invest rapidly in reconstruction projects. If a permanent ceasefire can be achieved, a path to permanent peace in the region can be opened.”
Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says two of its US aid workers injured in Gaza
- GHF says two Americans in stable condition after grenade attack
- Gaza officials say dozens killed by Israeli military in 24 hours
JERUSALEM: The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said on Saturday that two American aid workers had suffered non-life-threatening injuries in a targeted attack at a food distribution site in Gaza.
The US- and Israeli-backed GHF said in a statement that the injured Americans were receiving medical treatment and were in a stable condition.
“The attack – which preliminary information indicates was carried out by two assailants who threw two grenades at the Americans – occurred at the conclusion of an otherwise successful distribution in which thousands of Gazans safely received food,” the GHF said.
In addition to aid workers, the GHF employs private US military contractors tasked with providing security at their sites.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack. The Israeli military had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.
Gazan authorities separately reported dozens of Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli military in the past 24 hours, including near aid distribution sites.
The Hamas-run interior ministry in Gaza on Thursday had warned residents of the coastal enclave not to assist the GHF, saying deadly incidents near its food distribution sites endangered hungry Gazans.
The GHF began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May, bypassing traditional aid channels, including the United Nations which says the US-based organization is neither impartial nor neutral.
The GHF has said it has delivered more than 52 million meals to Palestinians in five weeks, while other humanitarian groups had “nearly all of their aid looted.”
Since Israel lifted an 11-week aid blockade on Gaza on May 19, the UN says more than 400 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid handouts. A senior UN official said last week that the majority of people killed were trying to reach aid distribution sites of the GHF.
Footage released by GHF has shown at least one aid site to be overrun with no clear distribution process. Palestinians have described the sites as chaotic.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, at least 70 people have been killed in the territory by the Israeli military in the last 24 hours, including 23 near aid distribution sites.
The ministry did not specify where or how exactly they had been killed.
Over 57,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israel’s war against Hamas, according to the Gaza health ministry, launched after the militant group’s surprise attack on Israel in October 7, 2023.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people in that attack and took another 251 hostages into Gaza. There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of which 20 are believed to be alive.
Hamas says ready to start talks ‘immediately’ on Gaza ceasefire
- Announcement came after militant group held consultations with other Palestinian factions
- Israel meanwhile said Saturday it was still mulling its response to a positive reaction from Hamas
JERUSALEM/GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, where the civil defense agency said Israel’s ongoing offensive killed 20 people on Saturday.
The announcement came after it held consultations with other Palestinian factions and before a visit on Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, where President Donald Trump is pushing for an end to the war, now in its 21st month.
“The movement is ready to engage immediately and seriously in a cycle of negotiations on the mechanism to put in place” the terms of a draft US-backed truce proposal received from mediators, the militant group said in a statement.
Israel meanwhile said Saturday it was still mulling its response to a positive reaction from Hamas to the latest US-sponsored proposal for a Gaza ceasefire.
“No decision has been made yet on that issue,” a government official said on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly about it. Israel’s security cabinet was due to meet later on Saturday, after the end of the Jewish sabbath at sundown, Israeli media reported.
Hamas ally Islamic Jihad said it supported ceasefire talks, but demanded “guarantees” that Israel “will not resume its aggression” once hostages held in Gaza are freed.
Trump, when asked about Hamas’s response aboard Air Force One on Friday, said: “That’s good. They haven’t briefed me on it. We have to get it over with. We have to do something about Gaza.”
The conflict in Gaza began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack, which sparked a massive Israeli offensive aimed at destroying Hamas and bringing home all the hostages seized by Palestinian militants.
On Friday, Netanyahu again pledged to bring home the hostages, after coming under massive domestic pressure over their fate.
Two previous ceasefires mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have seen temporary halts in fighting, coupled with the return of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for guarantees that any new ceasefire will be lasting.
A previous round of talks broke down in May with Hamas and Israel trading blame for its failure.
The Palestinian militant group said it had given a “positive response” to a truce proposal from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, but its request for a guarantee that hostilities would not resume had been rejected by Israel.
A Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations told AFP earlier this week that the latest proposal included “a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the living Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip” — thought to number 22 — “in exchange for Israel releasing a number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.”
Out of 251 hostages seized by Palestinian militants during the October 2023 attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Nearly 21 months of war have created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip, where Israel has recently expanded its military operations.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Israeli military operations killed 20 people across the war-battered territory on Saturday.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency.
Bassal said five of the dead were killed in a strike on a school in Gaza City.
A second strike near another school in the city where displaced civilians had found shelter killed three people and wounded around 10, including children, he said.
Many Gazans have sought shelter in schools and other public buildings since the war began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific strikes without precise coordinates.
The civil defense agency said Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 52 people on Friday.
The Hamas attack of October 2023 resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 57,268 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
Gaza civil defense says 32 killed in Israeli operations
- Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Saturday’s dead included eight people killed in two strikes on schools in Gaza City
- Many Gazans have sought shelter in schools and other public buildings since the war began
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defense agency said Israeli military operations killed 32 people across the war-battered territory on Saturday, the latest deaths in nearly 21 months of war.
Israel has recently expanded its military operations in the Gaza Strip, where the war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the Palestinian territory’s population of more than two million.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defense agency.
Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Saturday’s dead included eight people killed in two strikes on schools in Gaza City.
Many Gazans have sought shelter in schools and other public buildings since the war began with Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
Bassal also reported that eight people were killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution center in southern Gaza.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it could not comment on specific attacks without precise coordinates.
The latest strikes came hours after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-sponsored proposal for a Gaza ceasefire.
An Israeli official told AFP that “no decision has been made yet” when asked about Hamas’s positive response to the latest ceasefire proposal.
It came ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure for talks on Monday in Washington, where US President Donald Trump has intensified calls for an end to the war.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Out of 251 hostages seized during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed more than 57,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers its figures reliable.
Lebanon says 1 killed in Israeli strike on south
- An “Israeli enemy drone strike on a vehicle” in Bint Jbeil “killed one person and wounded two others”
BEIRUT: Lebanon said one person was killed on Saturday in an Israeli strike in the country’s south, the latest deadly raid despite a ceasefire between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
An “Israeli enemy drone strike on a vehicle” in Bint Jbeil “killed one person and wounded two others,” Lebanon’s health ministry said in a statement carried by the official National News Agency (NNA), noting the toll was provisional.
Earlier Saturday, the ministry reported that a separate Israeli drone strike wounded one person in Shebaa, elsewhere in the south, with the NNA saying that raid targeted a house.
Israel has kept up its bombardment of Lebanon since a November 27 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah including two months of all-out war that left the Iran-backed group severely weakened.
On Thursday, an Israeli strike on a vehicle at the southern entrance of Beirut killed one man and wounded three other people, Lebanon said, as the Israeli army said it hit a “terrorist” working for Iran.
Under the ceasefire deal, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters back north of the Litani river, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Israeli border, leaving the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers as the only armed parties in the region.
Israel was required to fully withdraw its troops from the country, but has kept them in five locations in south Lebanon that it deems strategic.
Israel has warned that it would keep striking Lebanon until Hezbollah has been disarmed.
